Reliability

As we both woke that early Saturday morning, we already knew exactly where we needed to be in an hour. It was the same every weekend morning when the Mets were at home. This morning, we did it begrudgingly, but we knew it had to be done. We washed, dressed, ate, grabbed our tickets, and went out our doors at the opposite ends of town. We both walked towards the same corner, where we’d always meet and continue our trek to the train towards Shea. We knew we’d both be there. Same bat time, same bat channel*, despite the biggest fight we ever had a few days before.

We met silently, and continued towards our common passion which always brought us together. And this time it brought us back together. Because we always relied on each other being there. It’s what we did. It’s also how we lived. It was who we were, even as teenagers.

We both grew into leaders — he became mayor, and I became director in a fast growing company. But what got us both there is the value we’ve always placed on reliability.

Today, I had to cancel an appointment I made several days ago. And it hurt. It’s supposed to hurt. If you’re going to claim that reliability is one of your key values, canceling an appointment on the day of that appointment should hurt. It hurts to remind you that breaking a plan goes against your value system.

As I’ve grown, I increasingly consider reliability a key value, and one of my most important traits. It’s probably why I say “no” to a lot of requests. If I agree to do something, it must get done, and if it can’t, there has to be a damn good reason why it can’t. So I only say “yes” to things I know I can get done, and then run with it until it does.

Which is why I’m in pain today.

A friend and colleague of mine has an idea he wants to implement, and he wants me to be a big part of the project. I have serious doubts we can make it happen (several reasons), so I’m not committing to it yet. I know it’s frustrating for him, so I should probably point him to this article in hopes that he will understand why.

So, if you’re in any emotional pain, it’s probably because you’re not living up to one of your key values.